


I've Been Feeling Foolish (You Should Try It)

by Be_Easy



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 17:59:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19408456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Be_Easy/pseuds/Be_Easy
Summary: Chloe likes to be liked.





	I've Been Feeling Foolish (You Should Try It)

I’ve Been Feeling (You Should Try It)

Chloe likes to be liked.

Well, not all the time. There are a few exceptions. ( The Albino kid who just stares at her during biology lecture. The old lesbian professor who leaves really unprofessional hearts in the top right corner of Chloe’s papers.) But for the most part, Chloe likes to be liked.

And,not to toot her own horn but people do like her. There’s the pupil dilation and parted lips and the look that Chloe can always recognize. She sees it. She banks on it. She uses it.

Chloe doesn’t realize how much she can possibly want it until it’s there and not.

(Enter Aubrey Posen stage right)

She looks like a freaking Disney princess and talks like a Disney villain even when she’s smiling. There are walls so tall around her that Chloe knows without a question of a doubt she’ll plummet to her death if she climbs. (The thing is, though, Chloe’s always had close to zero self preservation instincts)

They meet on the very first day and it’s like all the stars in every single universe align because they’re roommates and they’re Bellas and Chloe’s reckless charm seems to cling to Aubrey in a way that she tries to shake but can’t.

(She doesn’t tell Chloe she likes her but she lets her in close, warily let’s her feel along her high high walls and Chloe can’t stop thinking about how they’re so much softer than she thought they’d be.)

They sing together and it’s like magic. (Chloe is sure to tell Aubrey this every chance she can if only for the way her green eyes soften and her cheeks go pink.) Their voices weave together like they were always supposed to be stacked one on top of the other and everyone around them knows it.

Alice must know it because when Chloe suggests a harmony in the middle of a song for she and Aubrey, she doesn’t rip her face off and wear it as a mask. What she does is roll her eyes around in her head like she’s lost temporary control of them and square her shoulders towards Chloe to hiss “You better not ruin this.”

Alice decidedly does not like Chloe but Chloe is totally okay with it this time because she would rather have Aubrey smile at her the way she does when they sing the high notes.

Chloe isn’t great with choreography.  
She’s okay at it but being just okay works because it means Aubrey (the reigning queen of choreo) steps up behind and wraps her hand around Chloe’s hip while whispering “Here. Like this, Chlo.”

Chloe is the flower child of two fairly progressive parents so her attraction to Aubrey doesn’t catch her off guard, it doesn’t scare her. what it does do is make it hard to swallow sometimes, steal the breath right out of her lungs when Aubrey floats close, makes it impossible not to stare and obsess because that girl is something entirely gorgeous.

And usually this part is easy. (Chloe would whisper her best “Hey, girl...” and bat her eyes and it would be game on because people like Chloe) But Chloe has learned a lot about Aubrey and the many many ways she is closed off. Strict parents in a strict household mixed with even stricter self control means she keeps her distance from Chloe sometimes like maybe that will hide it. Hide the way Chloe’s best “Hey, girl...” would work if she let it. Hide the things that Chloe has always been able to recognize, that she recognizes in herself every other second of every single day when she’s around Aubrey.

Chloe doesn’t push. (Doesn’t push but definitely yearns which is a bit dramatic but on brand) She does revel in moments with Aubrey close, with a hand on her hip and breath fluttering against her cheek and tries not to be a creep about it.

(Well she does her best but Chloe maybe legitimately obsessed with Aubrey’s perfect ass and honestly, Chloe can’t really do anything about that)

Seeing Aubrey on stage is completely different than seeing her in real life. It’s blinding and surreal and Aubrey thrives under the hot lights. (Or at least she pretends to) And for the anyone who doesn’t like Aubrey in life ( because she’s strong and blunt and Chloe is starting to think her walls only really soften for the right people) they can’t help to be enchanted by her on stage.

And Chloe soothes her own ego, when she sees other people watching Aubrey sing with plain awe in their eyes, by reminding herself that she’s one of the only people who gets to see her the other way. 

Not tight and unforgiving when everything seems to be getting to her and not enigmatic and unbelievable when she’s belting out 80s power ballads but when she’s soft and tangible and barefoot in their dorm room. (Right where Chloe doesn’t have to share her)

Chloe tries. 

She tries every way she can think to let Aubrey know that she’s into her. Like, super into her. (Short of, you know, just saying it.) And Aubrey has to know because Aubrey’s practically a genius and Chloe’s not subtle. But Aubrey also really good at this thing where she pretends somethings not really happening.

Then Beca Mitchell shows up and neither of them can pretend that doesn’t happen.

Beca is seventeen and a half and earnest and it’s nice the way she totally has a thing for Chloe. (It’s nice and easy and only as innocent as Chloe keeps it because Beca makes it more than clear that she is ready and willing)

And, in a totally absolutely related way, Aubrey loses her shit (to put it mildly). She’s mean and aggressive and trapped behind her own towering walls.

“She’ll kill us all.” Fat Amy gasps during Bella’s practice, bent at the waist and clutching her knees. “You have to talk to her.”

“Why me?” Chloe pants and wonders exactly how many people have died from running bleachers and if she’ll just be another number in that statistic.

“Because, she likes you.” Amy points out like it’s something rare, something to be cherished.

Chloe wishes Aubrey would just say something before they go up in flames.

Aubrey is sometimes a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Sometimes she’s a bull headed  
pain in the ass. And sometimes she catches Chloe off guard.

Chloe is half heartedly proofreading Stacie’s English paper, mostly listening to Aubrey absently answer the questions Stacie is asking her from the Buzzfeed quiz open on her phone. 

“Do you currently have a crush on one of your friends?” Stacie asks and Chloe stares at Aubrey, stares so hard she imagines she can see right through her skin and muscle and bone and watch her actual heart begin to race. But Aubrey only distractedly turns the page of the text book she’s reading, licks her lips (the only real tell because Aubrey’s poker face is impeccable) and says “Yes.”

Chloe tenses, waits for Stacie to start grilling her or for Aubrey to gather her stuff and flee but Stacie just mutters “I bet it’s Howie” and Aubrey stays put. And when Aubrey’s green eyes flicker up just enough to meet Chloe’s shocked gaze Chloe has to bite back a hysterical giggle.

“According to this totally legit test...” Stacie starts with an arched eyebrow.. “Your soulmate is someone you already know...and their favorite food is...cupcakes.”

(Chloe does laugh then, loud and weird because Chloe has argued the merits of cupcakes for dinner with Aubrey on numerous occasions.)

Chloe has looked into Aubrey’s soul. At least, that’s how Chloe feels when they sit face to face trying to work out harmonies. Aubrey watches her mouth and Chloe stares at her eyes and thinks that the hazel spirals in her irises looks like entire galaxies.

She wonders if Aubrey watches her mouth work and wonders if her lips are soft, what her lip gloss tastes like, if she Chloe would kiss her back.

Chloe hopes so.

(Chloe leans close to Aubrey , reaching across the bed for her purple highlighter and she sees Aubrey follow with her eyes, sees her fingers curl tightly into the comforter. Chloe smiles, sees Aubrey blink at the curve of her upturned mouth and knows so.)

“How did it go?” Chloe asks quietly, looking up from her laptop to watch Aubrey shuffle through the front door 2 hours earlier than a person would if they’d been on a good date. “Was Howie a perfect gentleman.”

“I’m over Howie.” Aubrey huffs with an air of finality that soothes the painful knot that had taken up residence in Chloe’s belly ever since Howie had gotten up the nerve to actually ask Aubrey out. Aubrey moves into the living room looking completely beautiful and perfect until she steps out of her heels and pulls the Bobby pins from her hair. (Then she somehow looks even more beautiful.) “Like over him over him.”

She flops down on the couch beside Chloe, smelling soft and flowery and Chloe has to fight back a smile.“Oh...that sucks.”

“Stop it, Chlo.” Aubrey laughs, her dress riding high in her smooth thighs. She slouches against the couch, glancing at Chloe who looks away from Aubrey’s skin to meet her gaze with raised brows. “You’ve hated him for, like forever.”

“True.”

“What’re you thinking about.” Chloe will sometimes ask to see if she can catch Aubrey off guard. She’ll ask when Aubrey’s expression is soft and unfocused and when the eye contact has gone a beat too long. “What’re you thinking?”

And she hopes that Aubrey will just blurt it out. (“I’m thinking about how pretty your are.” Or “I’m thinking about how much I like you, Chloe.” Or “I’m daydreaming about fucking you.” And Chloe’s not dumb. She think it’s one of those.)

The thing is, she really wants to know. Needs to know. Because right now all she has are her own fluttering, wanting feelings for Aubrey and she just knows that behind Aubrey’s walls is a matching want.

“What’re you thinking about?” Chloe asks now, taking in Aubrey’s soft, hazy expression. Aubrey blinks, mouth twitching at the edges like she might smile while her brow furrows like she might frown.

“Just daydreaming.” Is what what she finally says.

Chloe makes mistakes. Just like everyone else, really. Except, she has a tendency to make them loudly and brightly. Later, she will blame it on the stress of finals and she will sit down with Beca and quietly apologize, tell her that it was a mistake. But she’ll know that the reason that she let Beca coax her into going to that party, the reason she let Beca coax her into bed has too much to do with Aubrey. With the way Beca’s interest for Chloe sort of wells up and spills over in such satisfying way. 

(It just felt good to be wanted so honestly)

Chloe has no intention of telling anyone but at Bellas practice Fat Amy has a fit of Australian ESP, points at both Chloe and Beca where they stand on opposite sides of the practice space and yells in what’s supposed to be a pirate accent “Scissor me timbers!”

Beca flushes bright red and Chloe feels her stomach absolutely plummet as she turns to look at Aubrey. Aubrey’s eyes find her quickly, questioningly and Chloe knows the guilt is written all over her face.

It’s the last time Aubrey looks at her for the rest of practice.

After, when the rest of the Bellas leave, Chloe lingers behind while Aubrey packs her bag in silence.

“Bree, I can explain...” Chloe tries and Aubrey huffs out a breath, shouldering her bag.

“I don’t know why it feels like this.” She says, voice thick and eyes wet. Chloe watches her leave and knows that she does.

The thing is, it’s so easy.

They’ve been sharing space, sharing air, sharing everything for what feels like forever so Aubrey doesn’t even register how close Chloe is until it’s too late.

The thing is, Chloe had been just scared as Aubrey. Afraid to just tell Aubrey that she liked her, afraid to clarify when Aubrey was inevitably dense about the whole situation. 

“Chloe, what’re you doing?” Aubrey asks like she knows exactly what Chloe is doing and is relieved that she’s doing it, that this is happening.

“I don’t know.” Chloe lies because she is closing the shower curtain behind herself, praying that it’s early enough on a Saturday morning that no one comes in to grab a shower.

“Chloe...” Aubrey breathes with her eyes firmly fixed on Chloe’s bare tits and just like that the Pope could walk in and Chloe wouldn’t care. Because Aubrey is naked and confused but welcoming in the tiny shower stall.

“I think we need to do this.” Chloe mutters stepping closer, under the spray of warm water and Aubrey’s gaze finally lifts to Chloe’s face. 

“Me too.” Aubrey says, eyes bright and dilated and lips parted. She looks like she can’t look away from Chloe if she wanted to, it looks like she wouldn’t mind spending hours scribbling hearts for Chloe on every available surface, it looks like she’s standing with her walls like rubble around her feet.

Then, just like that, they’re kissing. And it feels so good and slick and fucking fulfilling that it quickly turns unstoppable and inextinguishable. And suddenly (honestly it feels like suddenly but also finally) Aubrey’s fingertips on Chloe skin turns into her long fingers pressing inside of Chloe and the only thing Chloe can do is cling to the wet skin of Aubrey’s shoulders and come.

“Jesus, I’ve wanted you so badly.” Chloe breathes, lips against Aubrey’s collarbones then her soft breast then the long stretch of her stomach until Chloe is kneeling on the cold tile and her mouth is tasting everything Aubrey has to offer.

And Aubrey murmurs her name, breathes it out with staggered breathes, chokes on it while her hips arch and arch and arch into Chloe’s welcoming lips. After, when they’re face to face again, Aubrey kisses Chloe, softer than before and full of so many unsaid things.

“Out of everything in this world,” she whispers right against Chloe’s mouth. “You’re my favorite”

Yeah, Chloe’s been liked before but she doesn’t think she’s ever been liked in this way. This way that is honest and deep and so visible in everything about Aubrey with her walls torn down for Chloe they way they are. 

They sit side by side in the lecture hall during class with the professor talking at the front of the classroom about who knows what. Aubrey is taking copious notes and Chloe is not. Instead she’s writing a careful question on a piece of lined paper before folding into a sharp-edged square. Aubrey doesn’t even blink when Chloe slides it across her desk, wont even acknowledge it sitting in front of her until Chloe nudges her chair with her toe. 

Aubrey reaches for the note, laughing quietly when she unfolds it and Chloe smothers a smile against her own palm while she watches Aubrey’s pen move across the paper. Aubrey slides the note back to her and the way their fingertips brush together makes the prettiest blush fill Aubrey’s cheeks.

Chloe unfolds the note and grins.

“Do you like me? 

No ☹ or Yes! I want into your pants immediately!”

And the nearly perfect circle surrounding the second option is the best thing that Chloe's ever seen.


End file.
